THE military and the police yesterday said they were validating reports of another supposed plan to overthrow the Arroyo government.

National security adviser Norberto Gonzales said "there are rumors of another wave of action against the government" but these have to be validated.

Armed Forces chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr. belittled any chance for adventurism to succeed.

He pointed to the November 29 standoff at the Manila Peninsula hotel in Makati City, where Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV and other Oakwood mutiny leaders holed out while calling for President Arroyo’s resignation. Trillanes, a Navy lieutenant when he led the 2003 Oakwood mutiny, his fellow Magdalo officers, and civilian supporters surrendered to police authorities after about six hours in the hotel.

Esperon refused to elaborate on the reported destabilization plot which he said the military is verifying.

Reports quoted Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez last Saturday as saying that government had uncovered a plan to oust the administration, starting with a mass action on January 22. Other reports quoted Gonzalez as saying the plot would be carried out between January 17 and 22.

Former President Joseph Estrada was ousted on Jan. 20, 2001 during the "Edsa 2 revolt."

Gonzalez did not identify the leader or leaders of the supposed plot but he said he got his information from the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency.

Esperon said while it is the function of the military to monitor destabilization threats, "on the overall plan, we still don’t have a complete picture."

"What is important there is that while we are monitoring, we are prepared, the troops are prepared," he said.

Asked if the military has intelligence information similar to what Gonzalez has revealed, Esperon said: "I don’t know the report he (Gonzalez) was saying, what its details are."

On threats from within the military, Esperon said: "You know there are still those who are thinking that they can get support for that but it appears that it is far from reality."

Senior Supt. Nicanor Bartolome, PNP spokesman, said anti-government groups usually take advantage of significant dates to stage mass actions.

He noted the "Malacañang siege" or "Edsa 3" launched by Estrada supporters on May 1, 2001.

Other incidents, he said, were the standoff at the Manila Peninsula hotel which occurred last November 29, or a day before Bonifacio Day, and the 2005 Valentine’s Day bombings conducted by the Jemaah Islamiah.

The seventh anniversary of "Edsa 2" is on January 20 when Estrada left Malacañang.

Earlier, there were reports of an overthrow plot that was supposed to be staged next month. Two years ago on February 24, President Arroyo placed the country under a state of national emergency because of supposed military-Leftist plot to overthrow her government. – Victor Reyes, Raymond Africa and Jocelyn Montemayor